How can you stay connected while remaining six-feet apart, in groups no larger than ten, or sheltering in place? Well, it definitely presents some challenges. In this episode, Ronald and Michelle talk about how they plan to try to stay connected with students, parents, and leaders during a time when we're told to not hang out so much. Sometimes bou…

Who was really looking forward to re-inventing church and middle school ministry as we know it this month? Anyone? Well too bad, we're doing it anyway! Thanks, COVID-19! For real, churches and ministries everywhere have been completely changing the way student ministry happens in order to help stop the spread of the virus. Michelle and Ronald take …

Middle School Sundays: Well, the world has been flipped upside down! But we're an adaptive bunch, so here's what we're doing for our Sunday Mornings until this COVID-19 business is all wrapped up! Check out our website: https://waysidechapel.org/echo-online/ Games: Stack It Up I asked students to find five things from five different rooms in their …

Ministry is hard. Trying to do ministry from an empty cup is impossible. Don't burn out. You're not alone. Get help! This week, Ronald and Michelle talk about what they do when they're feeling spent in ministry. No matter what fills your cup back up, it's important to know when you're bone dry and how you can stop from getting all burnt out. But, w…

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Ronald Long

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Sunday Morning Squirrels: Last Sunday of the year! I know. We take a two-week break, one before and one after Christmas. This lets us prepare for the New Year and gives our students and parents a breather. But! This week we wrapped up our Christmas series and it was a lot of fun! Countdown Video: Ridiculous Christmas Video We did it again. A silly …

This week, Michelle and Ronald talk about Ronald's Disciple Now weekend and how it went. The event is a stay in host homes retreat with worship at the church. Everything went really well! Here's a few of the lesson's learned: Anyone of any age can volunteer to help with student ministry! Just give them the right job. You can change up an annual eve…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: I feel like this Sunday was the LEAST crazy we've had in a while. Good energy. Great student participation. All in all, a very nice Sunday indeed! Countdown Video: Ridiculous Christmas Video Tis the season to be silly. This video was just to watch Christmas fails. It was a hit! Games: Will It Burn - Christmas Edition Hones…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: Whew! Our crazy weekend event is over and Christmas season is finally here! Can't wait to get back in the saddle and back to ministry! This Sunday we had all the Thanksgiving leftovers you could ask for and lots of Christmas fun! Countdown Video: Slow Motion Water Balloon It didn't make sense. It was just funny. Sometimes,…

Ronald's church has a big event coming up! It's called Echo Weekend, but your church might call it a DNOW. That is unless you've never heard of what a DNOW is. No matter the case, listen in to how Ronald's church tries to communicate to parents (especially of those young 6th grade students) that everything is going to be alright! Here are some ques…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: Thanksgiving is three weeks away. Don't be mad but we're deep into our Christmas series! We're talking students through Luke's narrative, teaching them about virgins and learning all sorts of cool stuff! Let's do this! Countdown Video: Dad Copies Daughter's Face We're talking about babies, so why not show some cute babies?…

Michelle just got back from a great weekend camp (or is it a retreat?). While SOME things went really well, other things were not so great. Namely, there was that ONE kid. You know the one. The one who causes all the drama, seeks all the attention, and makes all the jokes no matter whose feelings get hurt. It's not an end all conversation, but mayb…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: Christmas time is here! Well, almost. We start Christmas a little early around here because Middle School students help with the Christmas Eve service and we need all the band practice we can get! So it's a new series and thinking about the Christmas story! Countdown Video: Funny Animals Animals are silly. We watched a sil…

Sometimes adults show up and help in big ways! Sometimes they just show up. Either way, it's our job as middle school pastors to give these wonderful adults willing to volunteer their time with these awesome students! Here are some questions to get your brain thinking! How do you train your adults who help in the big program? Do you use the same ad…

Ronald and Michelle talk about their Tentpole events. The big events they do that help drive the ministry, promote their vision for their ministries, and help keep the momentum going in middle school ministry! If you do big events for your ministry, we've got some questions for you! What are the events that take up a lot of your time and budget? Do…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: Who needs singers to show up? Not this middle school pastor! Whew! Another crazy Sunday with students stepping up and volunteers not showing up. Wild! Countdown Video: Fortnite Reactions In case you didn't know, Fortnite closed down for 48 hours and middle school students (and some adults) everywhere went crazy. This is a …

Today Ronald and Michelle got to hang out with Katy Langley, a youth pastor for Penninsula Covenant Church, and talk about getting out there and finding a tribe of youth pastors to connect and hang with. It can be intimidating to form a network if there isn't one in your region, but the awkwardness and the rejection from other pastors is SO WORTH I…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: It's Picnic week at our church! After church today we go rent out a big amusement park and invite EVERYONE from our church. It's a blast and a great chance to hang with students and meets lots of guests. Countdown Video: Wholesome Memes Just a quick video of memes from a longer youtube video. I didn't want the whole thing,…

You're going to miss some program days or nights. It's just going to happen! Whether by unforeseen circumstance or vacation (the latter being the preferred!), it's going to happen. Are you preparing for that now? This episode we talk about what Michelle and Ronald do to get their leaders ready for when they'll be gone and what that looks like for t…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: Woohoo! I love the Old Testament! This was the last week in our Ruth series and it was a blast. I love the story of the family redeemer and how Ruth is related to David! Such a great testimony to living faithfully no matter the circumstances! Also, it was a crazy morning! Countdown Video: That's Amorre This was just a simp…

This last Saturday, an epic event happened called the National Day of Volunteer Youth Ministry Training! Ronald hosted it as his church and some of Michelle's volunteers went to attend at a host site. We talk about some of the takeaways and the value of training volunteers. Here are some questions to consider: How are you training your volunteers r…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: Well. What a week! We did our third lesson in Ruth and had a pretty crazy Sunday morning to show for it. Let's talk about it! Countdown Video: That's Amorre Still resorting to things I thought were funny in high school. If this goes well, I may have a whole bunch of really silly videos to show my students. Games: Ninja Cat…

Mental Health is something the church needs to take more seriously. As those who work with students who have brains that are going through MASSIVE shifts in their development, we need to be ready for the task at hand. But we aren't just to think about the mental health of our students. We need to consider our own health as well! Michelle and Ronald…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: Week two of our new Ruth series! Lots of 6th-grade students getting into the flow of the week and today I wasn't the only adult in the room! All in all, a pretty good day of Middle School Ministry! Countdown Video: StrongBad Email - Dragon Still resorting to things I thought were funny in high school. If this goes well, I …

If you have students, you've got parents! Plenty of parents are invested in your ministry and want to know what you're doing, and what's going on! Ronald's church has three parent meetings a year, but Michelle doesn't do any. Which is better? Which do you prefer? Do you have regular parent meetings? What do you do at the meetings? How can you resou…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: New week, new series! I was really excited about teaching this series again! It's one I wrote and I am a sucker for the Old Testament. Such wonderful pictures of what God had up His sleeves the whole time! I hope you find this helpful! If so, go leave a review and share and other internet things. Those are nice things to d…

We're the professionals, right? Who would DREAM of putting students up on the stage? Well, Michelle and Ronald kind of do. When students get up in front of their peers to lead, play games, do announcements, and teach, it validates them and challenges them. Also, it usually means their peers listen more than when the paid youth worker is up there an…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: Now we're getting into a groove with Sunday mornings! This was the first week where sixth-grade students were REALLY getting into serving and it's awesome to see them getting into the flow of everything! This is our third week of Purpose and we're focusing on LOVE today! It's been really great and I love the season of newn…

Fall is here! Or at least in theory, it should be. It doesn't quite feel like fall in Texas. Maybe in California. Either way, school is back in session and it's time to kick off the fall season! Are you pulling out all the stops and really making it a big deal? Here are some questions to think about: For your Fall Kick off, are you going all out or…

Sunday Morning Squirrels: Now we're getting into a groove with Sunday mornings! This was the first week where sixth-grade students were REALLY getting into serving and it's awesome to see them getting into the flow of everything! This is our third week of Purpose and we're focusing on LOVE today! It's been really great and I love the season of newn…